What a great topic! I've got a few napkins at home, I'll scan them when I get a chance. I love napkins. The combo of limited color capability with a fair amount of space makes them generally go graphic, which I love. I love that "napkin sketch" design, too! Great stuff!

I took my 70 year old in laws to the Bahi Hut last year and I have never seen them so loaded. I was pretty tanked myself and my poor designated driver husband had to drive us all home, with me, who gashed my heel against the Bahi Hut's front door while taking a photo (someone opened a door on my foot, If I was sober I think I would of had the sense not to stand in front of a door) and my in-laws in the back seat screaming that they wanted to keep partying and wanted my husband to drive them to another bar.

On 2005-09-22 14:31, tikibars wrote:You can still get that Bahi Hut napkin if you are brave enough to visit the place.

Geeez... You make it sound so bad.
I don't think bravery is an issue. Its not in a bad neighborhood, on a main street, in a Best Western parking lot for crying out loud. It's in Sarasota, not "Escape From L.A."
Sure, it's dark inside. Many older bars are. Yes, it smells like 40 years of stale cigarettes. It is tiny.
But the staff is friendly and they make some of the strongest drinks I have ever had (other than at Wally's in Orlando, of course).
I went there all the time when I was in college and never feared once for my safety. Walked home many a time. I've been more scared in the parking lots at Downtown Disney at night.
They still have the napkins, and according to Tiki Road Trip, they are still using the big batch they ordered many decades ago.
So never fear everyone. Stop by there and patronize a very old, dark, small, sometimes stale smelling, classic tiki-ish bar. Have a stiff drink. See for yourselves why it has been there so long.
And get yourselves one of those napkins before they finally run out.

Not a scary place at all, worth a visit if you are the area. I like how they have a limit on their drinks. Now everytime we go back to Sarasota, my inlaws want us to take them there again!
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I bought a bunch of these at the Punahou School "White Elephant" sale a number of years ago. I also got placemats and dinner napkins with the same design in the set. The artist is Susan Barker. The napkin is signed on the lower right of the table.

The Bahi Hut napkins are being recreated.
According to the owner of the Bahi Hut and adjoining Golden Host Resort, the art was lost in a vendor shuffle and they've long since run out. But thanks to a scan and modern technology, the artwork is being readied for eventual rerelease on napkins (In piles, next to the tub o' cheese during happy hour).

The artwork was the handiwork of noted illustrator and portrait artist Thornton Utz. Utz was a big time illustrator doing covers for Saturday Evening Post and similar magazines back in the late 50's-early 60's. During this time he had a little publication company doing local maps that had advertising around the edges. When he sold an ad to a company that did not have any artwork, he'd do a little original sketch for free as part of the ad cost. Such is how an illustrator whose originals go for quite hefty sums, came to do the artwork that was on the napkins mentioned in Tiki Road trip.

When I mentioned the above book, the owner said "yeah, that guy was in here, he left us some books...."

Fast forward to today. The widow of Utz has given her approval on using the logo in more ways. Look for some cool merchandise to be developed. Thorton's son David is a painter who works in the style of Henri Rousseau. He may be involved in a few projects that would be a combination of his art with his father's artwork for Bahi Hut. Tiki collectors stay tuned as this develops.....

Ahh, the cocktail napkin. One of the more elusive little pieces of paper ephemera. So delicate and fragile, yet so beautiful to behold. Here are a few from my collection as well as some images snagged from the web.

THE OLD

I have a few old pre-Tiki napkins that used the same base design and then printed the name of the establishment.

ps- Check my eBay or PM me if anyone wants to buy it.
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